Improved cae-couphng



A. H. CLARK.

Car Coupl ng.

Patented July 16 1867 WfiZZZZ a? M MPEFERS, PHD

$16121] 5 fittest @ffirr.

A. H. GLARK, OF FOHD DU LAO, WISCONSIN. Letters Patent No. 66,677, datedJuly 16, 1867.

IMPROVED GAR-COUPLING.

dip 5x13211115: infant in in flgrsr Enter; fitted ant making o at thesame.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, A. H. CLARK, of Fond du Lac, in the county'of'Fonddu Lac, and Stateof Wisconsin, have invented a new and improvedSelf-Acting Cabcoupler; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable othersskilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had t0.theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of two railroad car draw-heads inposition for connection with the carcouplers of my invention, taken inthe line a: m, fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a-top view of a single draw-head with my car-couplerattached.

Figure 3 is a front view of my car-coupler detached.

Figure 4 is a side view detached.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention relates to a self-acting device for coupling railroadcars, which is very simple, strong, and sure in its. operation.

A A represent ordinary iron belt-mouthed car draw-heads or hunters, eachof which has a square cavity opening into it from the upper side forreceiving a nicely fitted sliding iron block, a, on the under side ofwhich is pivoted a solid hinge-flap, 6, made to hang flush with thefront side of the block a when open, and to double up against its bottomwhen pressed back by the shackle or link a, as shown at fig. '1. In thefront side of the block a is a vertical groove for receiving acoupling-pin, d, the lower. end of which rests upon the top of thehinge-flap b when the flap hangs down, as shown at figs. 3 and 4, andthe upper end of which is attached by a link to a chain, e, which isconnected with theblock a for lifting it as required, for coupling anduncoupling. The chain e is designed to he usedbn freight ears foruncoupling them from the top. Long and narrow vertical recessesf are cutin the opposite sides of the block a, as seen in fig. 4, and set-screwsg 9 pass through the opposite sides of the drawhead A, the ends of whichscrews project intothese recesses and prevent the block from coming outof the draw-head, while at the same time it can slide up and downfreely. A hole, h, is made in the'draw-head to receive the end of thecoupling-pin 11 when it drops in place to hold the link a, as shown infig. 1.

For coupling cars the device is set by introducing the l-ink'c'behiudthe coupling-pin d in the draw-head, when the hinge-flap b will bepushed back and rest upon the rear; end of the link, and the weight ofthe block a bearing upon it will hold the link level, as shown at fig.1, while in the opposite draw-head the device will be set by allowingthe hinge-flap b to hang down straight and rest upon the opening ormouth of the draw-head; the coupling-pin dwill then be held up by theflap. When in this position the draw-heads are brought together, thefree end of the link 0 will be pushed against the hinge-flap b, andforce it back so that the pin (2 will fall of itself and catch-in thelink, and thus by automatic action will complete the coupling of thecars: to which the draw-heads are attached. i l

Having thus described my .invention,'what I claim as new, an desire tosecure-by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the sliding-block a, the hinge-flap b, and thecoupling-pin dwitli a draw-head. on a railroad'car, constructed andoperating substantially as and for the purposes herein described.

A. H. CLARK Witnesses:

Gnoncn REED, A. D. BURNELL.

